Campaign Digest

CAMPAIGN DIGEST

October 31, 1996

PHILADELPHIA — Perot challenges CDlinton to ethics debate on Monday

Reform Party presidential candidate Ross Perot challenged President Clinton Wednesday to an hour-long debate on election eve to ''candidly discuss'' the ethical controversies surrounding his administration. The Texas billionaire, in a speech at the University of Pennsylvania, invited the president ''to step forward and tell the truth'' before Americans went to the polls on Tuesday.

Endorsements shower on tight race for Senate

BOSTON - Mass. Sen. John Kerry and his challenger Gov. William Weld each picked up the endorsements of a high-profile politician and a Boston newspaper Wednesday as two new polls showed the race remains a statistical dead heat. Texas billionaire Ross Perot told an enthusiastic crowd at Boston's Faneuil Hall he backs the Republican governor in the Senate race, one of the closest in the country. The Kerry campaign quickly countered by announcing former Sen. Paul Tsongas, who ran unsuccessfully for the presidential nomination in 1992, would back his successor, John Kerry.

Western states urge TV to delay naming winners

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Top officials from eight Western states urged U.S. television networks Wednesday not to project winners of Tuesday's elections until after the polls have closed in the West. Officials in the West have complained that voters there may not have an incentive to vote, which could affect other races and issues on the ballot.

Prominent donors back marijuana for medical use

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - George Soros and Laurance Rockeller are among the rich and famous who have contributed $1.4 million to support a ballot measure to legalize marijuana for medical use in California. With their help, supporters of Proposition 215 began airing TV commercials over the weekend. Soros, a billionaire currency trader living in New York, donated $550,000. Rockefeller, brother of the late vice president Nelson Rockefeller, donated $50,000. Other prominent donors include former Reagan administration Secretary of State George Shultz, $1,000 and Nobel-laureate economist Milton Friedman, $150.